Rick Ross (consultant) Totally Explained

Everything about Rick Ross Consultant totally explained

Rick Alan Ross (born 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States named Ricky Alan Ross) is a consultant, lecturer and "intervention specialist," with an interest in exit counseling or de-programming people from cults.
   He runs the CultNews.com blog and founded The Ross Institute of New Jersey in 2003, which maintains a database of information about controversial groups (some of which are listed as harmful "cults" by government agencies) including press articles, court documents, and essays.
   He has been accepted in various courts as an expert witness, interviewed and quoted by the media in the United States and other countries in relation to his expert knowledge in cults/cultic methodologies.
   Ross has been criticized by some of the groups he lists on his website, by some of the scholars who study new religious movements (NRMs), and by other individuals in relation to the roles he played in the controversial "deprogramming" case of Jason Scott and the ill-fated FBI standoff with the Branch Davidians. Ross' common response is to label such critics as "cult apologists."

Biography

Early life

Rick Ross, named Ricky Alan Ross, was adopted by Paul and Ethel Ross in 1953 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Ross family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1956, where Rick Ross grew up and attended school. Ross' formal education extended through high school, which he completed in 1971.
Rick Ross was convicted of a felony at age 22. He was involved in a jewelry embezzlement scheme at a retail store in Arizona, pleaded guilty and was put on probation, which resulted in the deprivation of some civil rights. Ross admitted his mistake: "I had been in trouble as a young man, and I turned my life around...I never again in my life made another mistake like that."

Early career

Ross states that he became concerned about controversial religious groups in 1982, when a group that specifically evangelizes Jews "infiltrated" the paid staff of a Jewish nursing home in Arizona where his grandmother was a resident. Working with the director of the facility and the local Jewish community, he managed to stop their activities. According to the The Arizona Republic, Ross joined a local committee that charged Jews for Jesus and other evangelical groups with being "anti-Semitic in that they seek the extinction of the Jewish people by conversion." Ross subsequently went on to work with the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, and was appointed to two national committees by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), one which focused on cults and another concerned with interreligious affairs.
During the 1980s Ross also represented the Jewish community on the Religious Advisory Committee of the Arizona Department of Corrections and was later elected its chairman. He also served as the chairman of the International Coalition of Jewish Prisoners Programs sponsored by B'nai Brith in Washington D.C. Ross' work within the prison system included inmate religious rights and educational efforts regarding hate groups. Ross was also a member of the professional staff of Jewish Family and Children's Service (JFCS) and the Bureau of Jewish Education (BJE) in Phoenix, Arizona.

Full-time private consultant and lecturer

Ross has lectured at University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago and University of Arizona and has testified as an expert witness in thirteen states. According to his publicly posted CV, he's been a paid consultant for the television networks CBS, CBC and Nippon of Japan and retained as a technical consultant by Miramax/Disney for the Jane Campion film Holy Smoke! In 1986 Ross left JFCS and the BJE to become a full-time private consultant and lecturer. In the following years he was involved in involuntary deprogramming cases, at the request of the families of cult members.
Ross no longer advocates coercive deprogramming or involuntary interventions for adults (he claims to have conducted dozens of such interventions), preferring instead voluntary "exit counseling" without the use of force or restraint. He states that the reasons for abandoning such practices are related to the exorbitant legal fees needed in defending this practice against legal challenges paid for by controversial groups, such as the Unification Church and Scientology. Ross claims these challenges exist because groups called "cults" recognize the effectiveness of deprogramming. He states that although the process has been refined over the years, exit counseling and deprogramming are based on the same principles.
Ross wrote an 11-page paper in 1995 titled The Missionary Threat addressing Jewish concerns about fundamentalist Christian groups that evangelize to Jews specifically in missionary efforts:

Jews around the world are now faced by the greatest missionary threat in history. "Born-again" crusades for converts are now stronger, with more money and power, than ever before. The targets are you, your children, and your parents. Colleges, high schools, nursing homes, centers for the disabled, hospitals, and even prisons are being infiltrated. Missionaries are exploiting the vulnerabilities of the young in transition, the old and lonely, the sick who are helpless, and people in crisis.

In 1996, Ross started a website which serves as a public database about cults in general, including controversial groups and movements.

Rick A. Ross Institute

Ross moved to New Jersey in 2001 and two years later founded the Rick A. Ross Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults and Controversial Groups and Movements, a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) public charity located in New Jersey, USA. Its stated mission is "public education and research," largely accomplished through its website. In IRS EZ-990 form of 2002, its income is given as below $25,000, which means it isn't required to file an annual return with the IRS.
The Advisory Board of the RRI include Ford Greene, a California attorney specialized in cult related litigation, Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, co-authors of the books Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change and Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics and Our Private Lives.; Psychologist Margaret Singer was also a board member of the Institute until her death.

Cases

The Jason Scott case

In 1990, Ross and associates attempted an involuntary deprogramming of Jason Scott, then an 18-year-old member of the Life Tabernacle Church, affiliated with the United Pentecostal Church International. Scott's mother, Katherine Tonkin, had been a member of the church, but had left due to concerns about the means the church used to keep members in line, their focus on material donations to the church, and a relationship between an elder church member and one of her two minor sons, Jason's younger brothers. After leaving the church, Tonkin asked Ross to assist her in the deprogramming of her two minor sons. He persuaded the two minors to leave the church.
   In 1991, Tonkin asked Ross to provide a similar intervention for her son Jason, which was unsuccessful. Criminal charges of kidnapping were brought against Ross and two others for unlawful imprisonment during the deprogramming. The charges filed were dropped, but re-filed again two years later. The trial ended in acquittal for Ross in 1994.
   In 1995, a civil suit was filed by Kendrick Moxon, long-time member and counsel for the Church of Scientology on behalf of Jason Scott. The jury held Ross liable for conspiracy to deprive Scott of his civil rights regarding freedom of religion. The suit ended with Jason Scott being awarded $875,000 in compensatory damages and punitive damages in the amount of $1,000,000 against CAN, $2,500,000 against Ross, and $250,000 against each of Ross' two accomplices.
   The judgment drove CAN, which had already been weakened by the cost of defending over 50 previous lawsuits, (most of them similar and filed by Moxon) into bankruptcy. Ross went into bankruptcy as well.
   In December 1996, when Scott reconciled with his mother, he settled with Ross for $5,000, and for 200 hours of Ross's services. Moxon was replaced by Church of Scientology opponent Graham Berry as his lawyer. Moxon, who had argued in the case that Ross and associates had hindered a competent adult's freedom to make his own religious decisions, unsuccessfully filed to rescind the settlement and appoint a guardian for Scott, whom he argued was "incapacitated."

Branch Davidian

The involvement of Ross before and during the standoff between Branch Davidians and Federal Law Enforcement agencies, at Waco, Texas has caused some controversy.
Ross deprogrammed Branch Davidian David Block in 1992, prior to the raid. That Davidian was later interviewed by the BATF, which also interviewed Ross. Ross says he deprogrammed another Davidian during the standoff, but this wasn't reported. He was also one source quoted in the Waco Tribune-Herald's series titled "Sinful Messiah" for which they interviewed over 100 people.
According to the FBI Ross approached them during the standoff and requested that he be interviewed, which he was.
The Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas (February 28 to April 19, 1993) states that:

The FBI interviewed Ross only at Ross' request, and politely declined his unsolicited offers of assistance throughout the standoff. The FBI treated the information Ross supplied as it would any other unsolicited information received from the public: it evaluated the credibility of the information and treated it accordingly.

Ross denies that this information is correct and states that he was contacted by FBI agent Bobby L. Siller on March 4, 1993 and later by several others which he also names. Nancy Ammerman insisted the FBI relied too much on Ross, a view which isn't shared by the other three experts reporting to the Justice department. In her official report to the Justice Department Ammerman wrote:

In late March, Ross recommended that agents attempt to humiliate Koresh, hoping to drive a wedge between him and his followers. While Ross's suggestions may not have been followed to the letter, FBI agents apparently believed that their attempts to embarrass Koresh (talking about his inconsistencies, lack of education, failures as a prophet, and the like) would produce the kind of internal dissension Ross predicted. Because Ross had been successful in using such tactics on isolated and beleaguered members during deprogramming, he must have assumed that they'd work en masse. Any student of group psychology could have dispelled that misapprehension. But the FBI was evidently listening more closely to these deprogramming-related strategies than to the counsel of scholars who might have explained the dynamics of a group under siege.

In his account to the Department of Justice, Ross gives very different examples of advice he gave to the FBI agents.
Ammerman claims that the FBI interview transcripts on the Waco tragedy include the note that "[Ross] has a personal hatred for all religious cults" and would aid law enforcement in an attempt to "destroy a cult". Ross emphatically denies this.
Ross recounted his role regarding the Waco Davidian standoff in a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno and responded to critics such as Ammerman in a statement published by the Washington Post. Catherine Wessinger, Professor of the history of religions and women's studies at the Loyola University in New Orleans, characterizes Ross as a "spurious self-styled expert[s]" in her paper The Branch Davidians and the Waco Media, 1993-2003, in which she criticized that Ross was often cited by the local media. Rick Ross describes her paper on his site as follows:

This rather long-winded "scholarly" review regarding media coverage of the Waco Davidian Standoff was written by cult apologist Catherine Wessinger. [...]. Ms. Wessinger snipes about "spurious self-styled experts" [...] getting too much media attention. The professor then stuffs her footnotes with what looks like a Scientologist's historical guide concerning my past. Could it be that she's angry that the press doesn't quote her more?

Landmark Education
For details see Landmark Education - Legal disputes - Rick Ross Institute In June 2004, Landmark Education filed a US$1 million lawsuit against the Rick A. Ross Institute, claiming that the Institute's online archives did damage to Landmark's product. In December 2005, Landmark filed to dismiss its own lawsuit with prejudice, supposedly on the grounds that a material change in caselaw regarding statements made on the Internet occurred in January 2005.
NXIVM vs. Rick Ross Institute
NXIVM (pronounced NEX-ee-um), which offers human potential seminars, alleged that Rick Ross of New Jersey published critical commentary authored by a psychologist and psychiatrist of its program after obtaining information through alleged copyright infringement. Dr. John Hochman was one of the individuals who evaluated the research.
   In September of 2004, a federal district judge in Albany, New York denied NXIVM's request for an injunction to remove the information from the Ross Institute Web site. Subsequently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City rejected NXIVM's appeal of that decision, saying critical analysis of a confidential 265-page NXIVM manual by two mental health professionals on Ross' site represented criticism, and therefore "fair use" under copyright law. In December of 2004 The United States Supreme Court denied without elaboration an appeal to review the NXIVM case.
   The newspaper article that came to play a role in Ross' fuller understanding of NXIVM's alleged espionage attempts against him was reported by Chet Hardin and published in Albany's altweekly, Metroland. Stress in the Family
Criticism
Ross is often criticized regarding his lack of formal training and his early criminal record by those associated with new religious movements, controversial groups or organizations which he studies, such as the Church of Scientology and the Kabbalah Centre, Ross was quoted in the Jersey City Reporter as stating: "When these groups hurt people ... that's when I'm concerned about the group." critics also send copies of his 32-year-old arrest reports to news organizations.
Scientology
The Church of Scientology maintains a 17-page critique about him supplemented by a 196-page document at "Religious Freedom Watch" consisting of court transcripts, jury verdict forms, news articles, psychiatric records, the bankruptcy filing petition and more.
Jeffrey K. Hadden
Professor Jeffrey K. Hadden at the University of Virginia wrote that:

Rick Ross is a highly visible entrepreneur who has carved out quite a niche for himself as a self-proclaimed expert and counselor to families desperate to retrieve family members from new religions. His past has been called into question by the Church of Scientology which has uncovered evidence of alleged mental instability and an attempted robbery conviction.
Ross points out that Hadden himself sought funding from some NRMs including the Unification Church, as revealed by a confidential memo he sent to fellow academics sympathetic to NRMs dated December 20, 1989.
Shupe and Darnell
Anson D. Shupe was an expert witness for the plaintiff in the Jason Scott case. He testified against Ross and the Cult Awareness Network. He co-authored a paper with Scientology lawyer Kendrick Moxon and Susan Darnell, who "manages a credit union in Gary, Indiana and is a civil rights advocate journalist."
   In another paper written with Darnell, he's critical about deprogrammers, defining them "[...] as vigilantes and mercenaries rather than as bonafide counselors or therapists". Specifically about Ross, he asserts that "even coercive deprogrammer Rick Ross was terming himself only an Expert Consultant and Intervention Specialist (a unique euphemism for exit counselor) on his late 1990s Internet Website." and that:

Thus, several years after their earnest meetings mavericks like private investigator Galen Kelly and self-proclaimed “Bible-based cult” expert Rick Ross were still physically abducting unwilling adults belonging to unconventional religions and criminally restraining the latter according to the old deprogramming/mind control mythos. Thus, as a would-be profession exit counseling was handicapped internally by a lack of consensus on what constituted legitimate therapeutic means and ends (for example, force versus persuasion, rational reevaluation and voluntary exit versus forcibly liberating minds); and externally limited by negative publicity thanks to a barrage of attacks by NRMs and increasingly by civil libertarian journalists who claimed the wolves were merely dressing up as sheep to escape public censure and the legal repercussions of their actions.
The comment of Ross on the article is:
Long-time "cult apologist" Anson Shupe [...] broods about "deprogramming" and seems somewhat miffed that despite his professional effort subsidized by Scientology, my cult intervention work continues. He refers to the Jason Scott case, but of course ignores its final outcome. Shupe then supports his opinions largely with footnotes citing other "cult apologists," such as his old professional associate Gordon Melton. Both of these men have picked up substantial checks working for purported "cult" groups.
Articles and Publications

Why did Landmark Education leave France?, CultNews 2006
The Emergence of New Hybrid/Composite Groups and Counseling Approaches: A Study of Friends Landing, Report 1999
Has Madonna Joined a Cult?, Report 1997
The Missionary Threat, Institute for First Amendment Studies, 1995
What Happened at Waco, Washington Post July 23, 1995
Forward to "See No Evil", The Summit Group, Fort Worth TX, 1993
Youth with a Mission, Report 1990
Proselytizing Report: "Teen Challenge", Religious Advisory Committee, Arizona Department of Corrections, July 26, 1984
Bigotry lurks in born-again Christian doctrine, The Arizona Republic, November 6, 1982

Television Appearances
Rick Ross appeared in a Season 3 episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit! that dealt with Life Coaches. Ross characterized Life Coaches as a New Age concept and questioned the motives and training of people purporting to be Life Coaches. He compared and contrasted their qualifications and methods with those of licensed mental health professionals. His stated concern was for the wellbeing of those entrusting the direction of their lives to these coaches.

Further Information
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